Nothing Is Talking to Carriers About a US Smartphone Release

Nothing founder Carl Pei is holding discussions with American carriers which could result in the brand releasing an Android smartphone for the US market.

When the Phone (1) launched back in March, it wasn’t made available in the US. In an interview with CNBC(Opens in a new window), Pei explained why that happened:

“The reason why we didn’t launch in the U.S. is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android … We felt that we weren’t ready before.”

(Credit: Molly Flores)

Pei also went on to confirm “we are in discussions with some carriers in the U.S. to potentially launch a future product there,” suggesting that the Phone (2) could see a release in the US. That’s mainly due to how popular the Nothing Ear (1) true wireless earbuds have proved, with a third of sales coming from the US.

The goal of Nothing is to produce phones that can challenge Apple and iOS, but Pei believes that will be a difficult task:

“There’s a challenge with Android where iOS is just becoming more and more dominant. They have very strong lock-in with iMessage, with AirDrop, especially among Gen Z. So that’s a rising concern for me … There might be a time where Apple is like 80% of the overall market and that just does not leave enough space for Android-based manufacturers to keep playing.”

As well as continuing to update and support Android as a competitor to iOS, Google should play a significant role in limiting Apple’s dominance of the mobile market. That’s assuming it can continue to release well-received Pixel phones. Samsung also has a part to play and the advantage when it comes to offering smartphones that fold.

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